A Rare Musical Experience with Pianist David Fung

This is a reposted article originally written for Positive Feedback by our friend Rush Paul. The great team at Positive Feedback, as well as Rush himself, have kindly given us permission to repost this and you can find the original article at the link below.
Thanks to Rush and the PF team!

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David Fung, Evening Conversations. Yarlung Records 2006 2025 (Pure DSD256) 
Release date: 4-18-2025

I found myself talking recently on the phone with my friend Bob Attiyeh, the creative founder and visionary of Yarlung Records. I’m always intrigued by these occasional calls with Bob. One never knows whence they may wander. That day, Bob was filled with excitement. “Do you recall our conversation a year ago about reissuing some of Yarlung’s early recordings in high resolution digital? You encouraged me to do it, and we’re now about to release the original recording with David Fung that put Yarlung Records on the map. Would you like to hear an advance copy? More importantly, would you be willing to write something about it?”

Well, yes—I do recall, I said immediately. Bob was concerned there would be no market for a full album release when they’d included portions in various samplers over the years. He didn’t want to abuse music listeners who have supported Yarlung. “Balderdash!” said I. “You need to do this. I’m sure more folks than I have left behind our vinyl collections and are now digital dependent. I can think of nothing finer that re-releases in Pure DSD256 and other high res digital formats from your 15ips analog master tapes and prior high resolution releases.”

And, by golly, Bob has done it. His first offering is a glorious Pure DSD256 transfer from the original 15ips analog master tape of an album I treasured when it came out on CD. This is the translucent, transcendent, utterly magnificent recording of David Fung’s solo piano recital recorded by Bob and the Yarlung team in 2006.

This new DSD256 transfer is a magical listening experience. If you’ve only heard the CD release, you have not heard these performances. These are the master tapes heard in as pure a sound as we can ever expect—no post processing, no compression, no messing about with frequency balance. As Dr. David Robinson (founder of Positive Feedback) and I have said before, the sound of a Pure DSD256 transfer (made with good equipment as used here) is indistinguishable to our ears from the analog tape source. DSD256 sound quality is simply that good. 

David Fung is extraordinary—his playing soars on wings of the greatest delicacy, nuance, insight, and emotion. He combines a refined elegance with intensely poetic and expressive nuance. The clarity with which he navigates passages is breathtakingly liberating. Listening after all these years, I am once again awestruck by the musicianship, the intelligence, the technical excellence of these performances. 

And the musical selections! They are just marvelous. This is a bold recital of demanding and diverse works. There is nothing trite or over-performed here. No pablum. Even when he includes well known repertoire, David Fung’s approach is fresh, insightful, deliciously innovative. And superbly well played. Did I say this before? Well, I’ll say it again. The playing here transports me. It delights me, it keeps me engaged, wanting more, and coming back to listen again.

At the time of the original release of this album, it was highly praised by both the music critic press and by the audiophile press. James Harrington writing in The American Record Guide said, “I shall return to this recording many, many times and will watch for future releases from this talented artist.” Gary Lemco writing for Audiophile Audition said, “For me, the recital’s variety and breadth of palette rivals the kind of pianistic spectrum the late Shura Cherkassky would champion… Pearly eroticism infiltrates Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp Minor… Anyone familiar with the film classic The Pianist will embrace this performance as authentic. Fung has an immediate grasp of the large gestures in Rachmaninoff as well as his tender rhetoric.”

David was just 23 when he recorded these performances—what a prodigy. As clear an example of youth knowing no fear as any I’ve known among musicians.

This is one of three albums David recorded with Yarlung. An earlier album, The Piano, focused on Liszt and Ravel, with an excellent concluding performance of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor, BWV 891. (Note to Bob: another excellent candidate to release.) And a following duo album, Dialoghi, with the inimitable Ms. Elinor Frey on cello, for which we have only half of the album re-issued. I implore Bob to re-release Dialoghi it in its entirety. The Lefkowitz, Lutoslawski, Mayuzumi, and Saariaho works are keenly missed around here.

I’m guessing there are other analog tape marvels still in the Yarlung vaults awaiting similar DSD256 releases. I hope Bob will find a way to continue with these.

Graduating from school in Australia, David Fung moved to America in 2003 to study at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. It was at Colburn School, in Zipper Hall where this album was recorded, that Bob first heard David perform in concert. David recorded these performances during his final year at Colburn, before earning his Master’s and Doctorate degrees at Yale. Today he regularly performs as a soloist with many of the great ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, Orpheus, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

David lives in Vancouver and New York City, where he serves on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the University of British Columbia. In Canada, he also serves as a curator at the Chan Center for the Performing Arts in Vancouver. He is a Steinway Artist and has released two albums with Steinway and Sons Label.

This new release earns my highest and most enthusiastic recommendation. If you have any affinity for classical piano, this recording should be at the top of your “to purchase next” list of recordings. Many thanks to Bob Attiyeh for giving us this excellent release to enjoy.